Daily Deals Not a Big Deal for Finding Customers

By Mikal E. Belicove|For Entrepreneur.com|May 3, 2011

We’re hearing an awful lot these days about daily-deal websites. Facebook just launched Deals, Groupon turned down a $6 billion buyout offer from Google and now has a presence in over 500 local markets, LivingSocial has raised more than $600 million in funding from the likes of Amazon and T. Rowe Price, and just last week the San Diego Union-Tribune — in partnership with Mission Bay SportCenter — pulled in more than $360,000 on a one-day deal offering: a week of kid’s summer camp priced at $95 a pop.

But for finding customers, a new study reveals that less than 10 percent of consumers are actually influenced by online deals and offers when choosing one local business over another. CityGrid Media released that new factoid this week in its 2011 Online Consumer Behavior Study — along with a plethora of data that should be of interest to marketers and anyone else responsible for lead generation.

Here are a few takeaways from the survey that will work for swaying customers:

Spurring customer reviews is vital, but nothing beats word of mouth. When it comes to offering recommendations, around 75 percent of consumers say they show support for local businesses by personally telling their friends. Only 20 percent…

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